₦airaland Forum

Is for real. Am currently using it.

alberson:
op, oyo

na wa.... Only you, FTC, STC, TTC.

monsterlobster:
Wailer

slave

(Nigerians! This Is What Is Called Change)
The Tanzania Example.
Author of this piece is unknown.
Take your time to read through.
Last weekend they were opening
parliament and there was a state dinner planned for all guests that was going to
cost about 300m. President Magulufi cut
the budget to 25m and ordered that the
rest be taken to buy hospital beds for
Muhimbili. They got 300 beds and
mattresses and 600 bedsheets from that money.
On 23rd Nov 2015 he announced that
there will be no official ceremonies for
Independence Day on 9th December, the
money is to be used for more pressing
issues and the day should instead be spent cleaning up our environment.
On Saturday 21st Nov 2015 a group of 50
people were about to set off for a tour of
commonwealth countries (don’t know for
what) but President Magulufi cut that list
down to 4 people, saving government 600m in tickets, accommodation and per
diems.
No more foreign travel, embassies will
take care; if it’s necessary to go, special
permission must be sought from him or
Chief Secretary. No more 1st class and business class
travel for all officials except President,
Vice, and Prime Minister.
No more workshops and seminars in
expensive hotels when there are so many
ministry board rooms available. President Magulufi asked how come
engineers are given V8s when a pick-up
is more suitable for their jobs.
No more sitting allowances. How the hell
are you paid allowance for a job which
you have a monthly salary? That also applies to MP’s.
President Magulufi has literally pressed
the reset button; returning Tanzania to
default factory settings, because that was
the TZ Nyerere left us with.
On the day after he was brought to power, in the morning as State House
officials were showing him round he
decided to take a walk to ministry of
finance, told them to get their act
together, asked why some employees
weren’t in office (ever since then the traffic jam in mornings has become
worse) and ordered TRA to scrap all tax
exemptions, everyone must pay taxes
especially the big guys
President Magulufi went to Muhimbili
Hospital unannounced and walked through the worst parts that they keep
hiding from important visitors. He fired
the director, fired the hospital board and
ordered that all machines that weren’t
working (so that people go to private
hospitals owned by some doctors) to be repaired within 2 weeks otherwise he
fires even the new director; the machines
were repaired in 3 days
Finally, last week when going to officially
open parliament President Magulufi
didn’t go by plane, drove the whole 600km from Dar to Dodoma.
President Magulufi has reduced the size
of the presidential convoy, even reduced
the size of presidential delegation that
travels with him
President Magulufi chose a Prime Minister we haven’t heard of before, a guy with
reputation for hard work and no
corruption. All the big guys we expected
could be PM have been let wondering
what hit them.
His motto is: Hapa Kazi Tu After President Magulufi visited ministry
of finance and Muhimbii Hospital without
announcing, it is said the ports, (most
corrupt, delaying, thieving officials) were
all of a sudden the most efficient place.
No loads are missing, things are done quickly and that habit of forcing for a
bribe so that your container is released is
no more.
Oh, they say when he was confirmed as
winner people started congratulating him
and wanting to bring gifts to his place he turned them back, saying he will receive
all congrats over the phone, nobody
should visit him.
All individuals/firms that bought state
companies that were privatized but
haven’t done anything (20yrs later) are to either revive the industries immediately
or hand them back to the government.”
Me:How I wish President Buhari and Vice-
President Osinbajo will take some cue
from this truly ‘change’ agent from
Tanzania !

from Sai baba to Kai baba. APC the highest scam ever in the history of mankind.

[color=#990000][/color] thanks op. I like onion a lot.

SOME NIGERIANS SAID IT EARLIER WHEN
APC CAME UP WITH THE GAME PLANS TO
DECEIVE NIGERIANS. From Prince Charles Jibromah:
"If you or any member of your family are
part of the 8000 persons Chevron will lay
off from work today and you voted for
changiii, please don't complain and don't
come out on the streets to become a robber because everyone is taking
personal security seriously now, you may
see yourself in hell immediately.... But if
you did not vote for this changiii, then a
new and better door is opened to you.... If
you are also part of the 600,000 construction workers that lost their job
and you voted for this changiiii or part of
the over 30,000 bankers that lost their
jobs but you voted for this changiii.... It is
quite unfortunate and a pity, .... If your
business is suffering as a result of this changiii and yet you still come out to
defend the changiii, then you have signed
poverty for yourself and need
deliverance... There is need to take the
matters of this nation seriously now and
demand accountability from government,... Repent and open your eyes
to the reality of the Truth, if in the sixth
month, the man you voted for don't have
a clue of the implications of his non
governing, and he is still blaming his
predecessor when in his predecessor's time you had your job and had your
business even when you said it was
marred with corruption, there is really a
need for better examination....
Let me remind you that in 5 months your
President has borrowed over 3 billion dollars without a cabinet and cannot
account for over 4 trillion the country has
gained in his about 6 months from the
saved revenue of the past administration
from FIRS, NLNG, NNPC, Custom etc.... If
they have borrowed over 3 billion dollars in 5 months, what then will they be owing
at the expiration of 4 years in office ....
Let me remind you that in 5 years of the
last administration, Nigeria as a whole
borrowed $18 billion from Federal to
State to LGs and the APC Lagos, Edo, Rivers and Imo had over 8 billion dollars
in that debt and the rest States including
the Federal Government had only 10
billion dollars in debt....
Let me remind you that at no time in 5
years of the last administration did the Federal Civil servants not receive their
salaries in the 4th week of the month and
a week before any Festive period, Muslim
or Christian Festivities while this
government has never paid salaries until
the 2nd week of the next month..... Let me remind you that the total
expenditures of government on a monthly
basis from salaries, to paying contractors
and running the country is N300billion
according to the budget and the country
has earned over 4 trillion in 5 months and the country is still earning money , while
there is no contract awarded, No road
construction, just salaries and fuel subsidy
and traveling of the President and his few
escorts and his party and yet your
President complains of no money to pay his yet to be sworn noisemakers.....
Nigerians you are being deceived with
the lies of corruption, your President is
destroying your image home and abroad
by calling you thieves and corrupt while
high profile corruption is going on in his government... It's time to ask questions
and demand accountability, Let the
President tell us why he has borrowed
and what he used the monies received
and left by the previous administration
aside salaries and subsidies and some minor day to day runnings which is about
a hundred and fifty billion monthly......

never despise the days of thy humble beginning. Oluwa bless my hustle.

The C:E:O. Barrack O green R.I.P. Pun pun pun pun pun pun

laurenziz6:
There are some incredibly odd laws that have sprung up
across the globe. Some are so incredibly specific, we'd
love to hear what the backstory behind them is.

1. A married woman is only allowed to have one glass of
wine in La Paz, Bolivia.
2. Chewing gum in the entire country of Singapore is
illegal.
3. No sex on the steps of a church at night in Birmingham,
Alabama.
4. Capri, Italy has a ban on "noisy footwear." No flip-flops
or squeaky shoes.
5. There's a hot spring in Swaziland called Cuddle
Puddle, and it's ONLY for cuddling. No making love in
there.
6. Melbourne, Australia has a ban on men wearing
strapless gowns in public.
7. A town in Alberta recently outlawed all swearing,
yelling and spitting. One step away from being the town
from Footloose.
8. No shooting open tin cans in Spades, Indiana.
9. Kissing in a moving vehicle in Eboli, Italy? Get ready to
pay a 415 Euro fine.
10. It's illegal to slurp soup in a restaurant in New Jersey.
11. If you make an ugly face at a dog in Oklahoma, you
can go to jail.
12. You can't ride an ugly horse in Wilbur, Washington.
13. In Hartford, Connecticut you are not allowed to teach
any dog anything.
14. You can be fined if you wink at a woman in Ottumwa,
Iowa.
15. Barbados has outlawed wearing camouflage for
anyone unless you're in their drug and defense forces.
16. If you're ice skating in Frankfurt, you better stay below
the speed limit of 50 miles per hour.
17. Sorry anyone in Britain, you can't sell cooked tripe in
the country. Raw is good to go.
18. If you're working at a cheese factory in Ferrara, Italy,
it's illegal to fall asleep in a cheese factory.
19. A woman is only allowed to skydive in Florida on a
Sunday if she is married.
20. If you want to cary your violin down the street in Salt
Lake City, you better not have it in a paper bag.
21. In Iran it's legal to have sex with a domesticated
animal, but illegal to have sex with wild animals.

NUMBER 6,9,14& 21 i wonder o. But NUMBER 2... Well, i don't have problem with people chewing gum What i hate is When the start making that nonsense sound.

Christine01:
Laughing so hard at this comment.

Na person die?

its equivalent to death. May be he is on high purchase. Although, i didn't witness the incident but i can feel the guy's pain. I've gone through similar thing before. Arm robbers broke into my shop and carted away all my valuables. Then, it was as if my life was gonna end. I thank God that i bounced back bigger and better.

is a pity. May God give him the fortitude to bear the loss.

GspotAngela:
Igbos are very foolish

is that all u've got?

Is time to straighten things. It has been months since GMB took over the helm of affairs. So, judging from the look of things, his campaign promises and achievements so far, do you think he is on right track?. Some people thinks that Buhari's emergance as the president was a fluke. If there should be a fresh election today between PMB and GEJ who do you think will win? Like for PMB and share for GEJ.

LaurelP:
I'm bookmarking this. Will read it first thing every morning before work.

thats the spirit

Obaf16:
Op that second point meet me at d point of need,am going thru some things but am little bit relieved.Thanks joor

you're welcome jare

1. It happened some time ago but . I was
in an audience listening to a motivational
speaker. The speaker got out his wallet &
pulled out a 500 Naira note. Holding it up,
he asked, "Who wants this 500 naira
note?" Lots of hands went up. Including mine. A
slow chorus began to build as people
began to shout "Me!" "Me!" I began to
wonder who the lucky one would be who
the speaker would choose. And I also
secretly wondered (and I am sure others did too ) why he would simply give away
500 naira. Even as the shouts of "I want
it" grew louder, I noticed a young woman
running down the aisle. She ran up onto
the stage, went up to the speaker, and
grabbed the five 500 naira note from his hand. "Well done, young lady," said the
speaker into the microphone. The
speaker simply say "Most of us just sit and
wait for good things to happen. That's of
no use. You've got to make things
happen. Make a move" 'Simply thinking about doing something is of no use and
not gud enough'. Our lives are like that.
We all see opportunities around us. We all
want the good things. But the problem is
we don't take action. We all want the 500
naira notes on offer. But we don't make the move. We look at it longingly. Get up,
and do something about it. Don't worry
about what other people might think.
Take action. 2. later, the speaker got another 500
naira note and held it up for all to see, I
thought I knew what's up. But he just
asked a simple question. "How much is
this worth?" "Five Hundred naira!" the
crowd yelled in unison. "Right," said the speaker. He then took the note and
crumpled it into a ball and asked "How
much is it worth now?" "Five Hundred
naira!" screamed the audience. He then
threw the note on the ground, stamped
all over it and picked up the note and asked one more time: "And how much is
it worth now?" "Five Hundred naira!" was
the response. "I want you to remember
this," said the speaker. "Just because
someone crumples it, or stamps on it, the
value of the note does not diminish. We should all be like the 500 naira note. In
our lives, there will be times when we
feel crushed, stamped over, beaten. But
never let your self-worth diminish. Just
because someone chooses to crush you,
that doesn't change your worth one bit! Don't allow your self-worth to diminish
because someone says something nasty
or does something dirty to you." Never let your self-worth diminish.

it still has life After 2 years?? People self.

SUGARBEE:
Lol.. A man is supposed to make his wife wet down south and not her eyes

What is down south?

op... You are not far from the truth.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai ,almost ran into a Boko Haram ambush yesterday on the Maiduguri-Dikwa road,Borno State. But his advance team did and lost one soldier. Five of the terrorists were killed by the advance team in the gun fire exchange. The soldiers were on their way to Dikwa ahead of Gen.Buratai who is currently visiting troops in towns and villages recently liberated from terrorists in the state. Four terrorists surrendered. Also during the trip,the Chief of Army arrested four other suspected Boko Haram members after picking them from the midst of herdsmen. As Buratai’s convoy was made its way to Dikwa, eagle eyed soldiers grew suspicious of some men among the herdsmen and their cattle. The COAS ordered the convoy to stop and got four men and an elderly Fulani man arrested. The Fulani man confessed during interrogation that he met the suspects just before their arrest and had actually forced themselves on his party. The four confessed that they were indeed members of the terror sect. They were there and then whisked off to Maiduguri. The Army Chief visited Dikwa, Mafa and Gamboru-Ngala. At Mafa, General Buratai commended soldiers of the 7 Division of the army for a job well done. He assured them of improved welfare and allowances. He however told the soldiers that “there is still more job to be done and we have to do this once and for all so that all of us can go back to our respective barracks and continue with our normal jobs as soldiers”. In Dikwa the COAS was welcome with cheers by over 4000 internally displaced persons from Gamboru and neighbouring towns, who were full of praises and prayers for him and his soldiers. Buratai who addressed them in Kanuri pledged that that they would soon be resettled as his troops are working round the clock to rid the area of terrorists. In Ngala town, the Army chief met jubilant troops celebrating the liberation of the area. He was accompanied by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Baba Abubakar who made the trip by air.

Ex-Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck
must spend every other weekend in a
Delaware work-release detention center
for nearly two years, a judge decided in sentencing her for having raped a 15- year-old boy in Bethany Beach last
summer. Shattuck, 48, spoke through heaving sobs
as she apologized for committing the
sexual offense. The Baltimore socialite
and onetime NFL cheerleader pleaded
guilty in June to one count of fourth-
degree rape, an offense with a maximum sentence of 15 years but no mandatory
minimum. Molly Shattuck admitted she raped a 15-
year-old boy in Delaware last summer. “I was the adult, and I’m sorry,” Shattuck
said through tears before she was
sentenced. “I never should have had the
conversation with someone else’s son and
I’m sorry ... I will spend the rest of my life
making this right.” Shattuck was arrested in November on
charges of third-degree rape, unlawful
sexual contact and giving alcohol to
minors; a plea deal later reduced the
charge to a less serious rape offense.
Police said she performed MouthAction on the boy, a minor, over Labor Day weekend at
a Bethany Beach summer home. Shattuck, according to court records, had connected with the boy – a minor not
legally capable of consenting to sex with
her – over social media earlier that year.
The boy was friends with her teenage
son, and the same age as him. Over the
summer, police said in affidavits, Shattuck and the boy exchanged
sexualized texts and emails, and
occasionally met in parked cars. The mother and father of the victim
asked Superior Court Judge E. Scott
Bradley to sentence Shattuck to more
than just probation time. “What she did to my son is heinous. The
fact that she paraded her pedophilia in
front of her own son is even more
disturbing,” the mother said. “Any adult
who rapes a child deserves to be in
prison. Please hold her accountable.” The victim’s father, who also spoke to the
court, said he was the one who dropped
the boy off at the home Shattuck, her
children and some of their other friends
were staying in that night. Shattuck
assured him, he said, that the children wouldn’t have any drugs or alcohol — that
they’d all be safe with her. “We were a half a mile away,” the father
said ruefully. “Never did it enter my mind
what was happening.” Deputy Attorney General John Donahue
pressed Bradley for a sentence of more
than just probation, noting the guidelines
called for a sentence between zero and
22 months. “This is a classic case of
grooming behavior,” Donahue said. “This was not a momentary lapse in judgment.”
The law, he said, makes no distinction
between adult men and adult women
who sexually abuse minor children. Bradley sentenced Shattuck to two years
of level 3 probation, and said she must
report to a violation of probation center
every other weekend, starting in
September, until she has notched 48
weekends there. He also ordered her to pay $10,650 in restitution to the victim’s
family. Shattuck must register in
Delaware as a Tier II sex offender, and
except for her own three children, she
cannot have contact with people younger
than 18. “The competing interests in this case
have been very difficult to weigh,” Bradley
said, noting both the victim’s pain — the
boy’s father said the family considered
moving away from Maryland to avoid
scrutiny and embarrassment — and Shattuck’s long fall from a privileged
perch in society after her arrest. Eugene Maurer, Shattuck’s attorney, said
his client’s life had been upended in the
period leading up to the crime by a close
relative’s drug addiction and Shattuck’s
former husband, Mayo A. Shattuck III,
leaving her for a younger woman. Maurer also told the judge the text
messages between Shattuck and the boy
before Labor Day 2014 made them seem
mutually interested in each other. “When you read the text messages, it
almost looks like there’s a romantic
relationship going on between two
adults,” he said. But by now, Maurer said,
Shattuck “has fully accepted responsibility
for her actions and has demonstrated appropriate remorse.”

try as much as you can to open it a little then add a substantial amount of salt or better still empty one sachet of mr chef inside, then shake it and keep it back. Take your and leave. People and their reasoning....

after the regea play the blues... The blues blues.... Ladies call me Talk and do, i Talk i do.. Na me put do mood o.... The mood The mood. Abeg who sabi song that song?

ladies are like '' who cares, as also he has money'' na lips Dem go chop?

i so much love Akon. True african

even in Owerri

United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield and African Commission (AFRICOM) chief General David Rodriguez, during an appearance on Live at State, a Department of State webcast, spoke on President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned Washington trip, Ebola, Boko Haram and other foreign affairs-related matters. Excerpts: The U.S. President has extended an invitation to Nigeria’s President Buhari. What should Nigerians expect from this visit? What Nigerians should expect is that this will reaffirm the strong relationship that we have with the government and the people of Nigeria. We will be discussing with President Buhari moving forward how we can support his efforts to address his priorities for Nigeria. He’s indicated that his major priorities are dealing with the security situation, addressing the economy, and also addressing the issue of corruption and asset retrieval. So, we will have discussions with him on what we can do in those areas to support him. And I think for the Nigerian people, again, it highlights the importance of our relationship with Nigeria moving forward. In the last administration, the U.S. refused to sell arms to Nigeria, citing human rights abuses allegedly committed by security forces as the reason. With a change of government, has that position changed? That’s a policy decision led by our State Department in Nigeria, and right now we are continuing to engage with the new government to see how effective that is as it moves forward. And we are prepared
to move at the pace and rate that the State Department leads this as we rebuild those relationships in Nigeria. Let me just add to that. As you heard in my opening statement, President Buhari is going to be in Washington later this month for meetings with the administration, and we will have discussions with him moving forward on what we can do to continue to assist the Nigerians in their efforts to fight against Boko Haram. And part of that discussion will be how we can provide the equipment and support that the Nigerians require. Human rights are an important value for the U.S., and in any place where we are providing lethal weapons, we want to know that the military that we are providing those to do not use that in a way that violates the human rights of ordinary civilians. So, we will have that discussion moving forward, and it is our hope that as we discuss these issues with the Nigerian government, we will also have a discussion with them on how to better prepare their military to support communities and build confidence in communities and not be part of the – not be victimised in the efforts of the military to fight against Boko Haram. In recent times, what has been the support of the U.S. to the Nigerian military in general? We have supported the Nigerian military building capacity in some of their units. So, we have a great relationship, for example, with the special boat squadron and the navy. We are also participating in a combined fusion centre where we share intelligence with the senior leadership of the Nigerian military and their intelligence services and the police force. And we continue to be prepared to grow that relationship in the future. U.S. intelligence teams were recently in Nigeria to help track the Chibok girls. Over a year after their arrival, the story has not yet changed. What went wrong? The U.S. has continued to share intelligence with the Nigerian leadership with those Shabaab girls as well as other people who have been taken by Boko Haram, and we continue to do that. As far as the effort, I think it – while it didn’t yield getting back all the girls, there have been many of the people that were held by Boko Haram that have been freed over time, and we continue to pursue efforts to get the Chibok girls back. Let me just add that this has been an extremely high priority for the U.S. government to assist in bringing these girls home, but also in bringing the hundreds of other girls and young boys who were forcefully taken by Boko Haram. We have seen that about 700-plus have recently returned, and we are supporting efforts of the government and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) to provide support to those young girls who have – who have fortunately been freed. We will not let up on our efforts. We will continue to work with the government. We commend President Buhari and his wife for visiting the families of the Chibok girls and letting them know that we have not forgotten about them. The Multinational Joint Task Force was recently formed. What support will the U.S. provide to support the effort? We have been working with the countries in the region to support the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF), and during my recent trip to the African Union (AU) summit in Johannesburg, South Africa we announced the contribution of $5 million towards the setup of the MJTF and we will continue to work with the governments in
the region to support that. I think the general’s back, so I’ll turn it over to the general to talk more about some of the more specific support we’re providing. We have a coordination cell in N’Djamena, Chad that is part of a French and British as well as the partner African nations – all four of them that are participating in the MJTF. In that coordination cell, we share intelligence with each of the respective countries. We also have people in their tactical headquarters at both Maroua, in Cameroon, in N’Djamena, in Chad, and then over in Diffa in Niger who are advising and assisting the countries involved the MJTF in their struggle against Boko Haram. What does the U.S. do to help put an end to the jihadist problem in the Sahel and to Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin? Peace and security on the continent of Africa is our highest priority. And we are working closely – and I’d like General Rodriguez also respond to this question. We have been working very closely with our partners in the Sahel, in Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin countries, and that I would as well mention in the Horn of Africa dealing with al-Shabaab, to help build their capacity but also support their efforts and to contribute to their efforts to fight against extremism on the continent of Africa. This has had a tremendous impact on the continent. Every single day I read in the paper that dozens of people across the continent of Africa are being killed by extremists. So, we know that this is something that requires all of our efforts to address, and we’re working closely with our African partners to do that. Well, as you know, we’ve got a long-term effort to both build the partner capacity of those nations involved in the fight against violent extremists. We also, of course, continue to support our French partners who are working hard in Mali, Niger and Chad to help defeat the scourge
of terrorism in that region. And we continue over – around the Boko Haram region, we have great long-term capacity- building successes in both Cameroon and Chad that have helped to take that fight to the enemy, as well as over in Niger. With Nigerians, we continue to share intelligence, and that has continued to help them push back and open up some of
the areas that had recently been held in the Boko Haram’s hands, and we continue to look forward to building those capacities even better so that they can take care of that situation by themselves. What is the U.S. position with regard to African countries whose constitution does not limit presidential terms, allowing the outgoing president to effectively run endlessly? Our position on transition and the importance of transition is very clear. We do believe in a democracy, that it’s important that countries go through transitions, that they actually have votes that allow for a change in government. We are certainly very strong on governments not changing their constitutions to encourage the restrictions on term limits. But for those countries that have constitutions that do not require term limits, we are engaged with those countries with their heads of state to encourage that they allow there to be change. People want change. We have seen polls that have been taken across Africa that indicate that broadly African citizens want there to be term limits. They don’t want to have presidents for life. And we support those efforts. How do you assess the military strength of al-Shabaab in light of its continued attacks inside and outside of Somalia? U.S., UN, and Somali officials say it has been weakened, but just last week al- Shabaab overran an AMISOM base and killed several Burundian soldiers. Yes. Since al-Shabaab’s height of its strength several years ago, it has decreased in strength overall, but that does not mean it is anything less of a threat. As they lost more territory in Somalia that they controlled because of the great efforts of the AMISOM troops, they have taken to the asymmetric attacks back in the homeland, those nations – and the worst you can see recently being Kenya. But they have – they can also at any time focus their energy on an isolated place like they did against the Burundian contingent here recently. The AMISOM efforts continue apace and they continue to do a good job decreasing the overall effect or the overall strength of al- Shabaab, but that does not mean that al- Shabaab is not still dangerous, as you can see by the recent days’ attacks. What is your reaction to the elections taking place in Burundi on Monday? Can the U.S. stop President Nkurunziza from running for a third term? How about DRC and Rwanda that have elections coming up too? We have expressed our extreme disappointment with the decision of President Nkurunziza to go forward with the elections that took place on Monday and as well his plans to go forward with presidential elections in mid-July. We have also expressed our view that we do not believe, under the Arusha accord, or the constitution, that the president should be seeking a third term. President Nkurunziza has had 10 – what I would call relatively stable – years as president of Burundi. He has a legacy of having established this country in a time of peace and that legacy should also include turning the government over and not running for a third term. We think that has contributed to the violence that we see taking place and it is contributing to instability in the region. We all think that his decision, against tremendous pressure, to go forward and running for a third term sends a bad signal, a bad message across the continent and other countries where we have encouraged their heads of state and leaders not to seek third terms but to allow for transition, to allow the people’s voices to be heard. So, we will continue to apply pressure. We are encouraging that there be dialogue moving forward. We would like to see the election that is scheduled to take place in mid-July be delayed so that there can be dialogue. And our ultimate goal is that Burundi achieves peace for its people. We do not want to see the violence that is taking place there continue. We do not want to see the instability that is taking root continue to spread across Burundi and possibly across the continent as – at least Central Africa – as we are seeing refugees move from Burundi to Tanzania, to Rwanda, and to DRC. Why has the U.S. reduced its human rights and democracy-related programmes in Africa? This is because governments in Africa are used to rule well only under foreign pressure? And we saw that both U.S. and EU intervention on these domains have helped Africa’s development. I fully agree with your statement that we need to continue to focus on democracy and governance across Africa. It is one of the highest priorities and it is part of our mission for the Africa Bureau to continue to support those efforts. So, we do support democracy and governance, as you saw in the recent intense and robust involvement that we had in supporting civil society, in supporting the electoral commission to do its job in Nigeria, and we will continue to support those efforts. The African continent is extraordinarily large and we’re not always in every place that we would like to be, but we have our embassies and our ambassadors engaging with governments to ensure that they understand the high priority that we give to their supporting the movement of democracy and civil society in their countries. What has been done in terms of progress in sub-Saharan Africa in the field of fight against corruption? As you know, one of the initiatives that came out of the historic Africa Leaders Summit last year was an initiative on illicit finance and fighting corruption. And Senegal, volunteered to lead that effort, and just this past week, Senegal hosted a meeting on how we can fight illicit financing and they invited countries from across the continent. This is something that is extremely important. The AU just completed a study last year where they looked at illicit finance and determined that billions of dollars of hard-earned capital across Africa is being siphoned off and being taken away from efforts of governments to build capacity, to build infrastructure, and to provide services to their people. So, this is something that we are working regularly with our African counterparts on. We have commitments from governments that they want to be involved in this fight, that they want to stop corruption. And as you know, a number of the programs that we have to support Africa’s progress such as AGOA, do have benchmarks on corruption. The Millennium Challenge Account has benchmarks on corruption as well. So, this is something, again, that we look forward to making progress on in the next few months. The issue of refugees and migration appears to be on the increase despite efforts by governments to address the challenge. What best do you think this issue – how best do you think this issue can be addressed? As you know, my background before coming back to the Africa Bureau was in the bureau of refugee and migration programmes – PRM – Population, Refugees and Migration. And I was just distressed to hear that in Africa, a million new refugees were added to the numbers this year alone. Many of those refugees have come out of Nigeria into neighboring countries. But, also the recent refugee flow from Burundi to Tanzania and to Rwanda and DRC. We think there’s close to a hundred thousand refugees just from that flow. And the solution is to end fighting. The solution is to bring peace to these countries. And I didn’t mention even the situation in South Sudan where more than a million people have been displaced as refugees and displaced in their countries because of a man-made crisis. So, we do have to deal with the issue of conflict. We have to deal with the issue of providing the institutional capacity in governments to support their people and to do the right things for their people. We are deeply engaged in trying to find the solution to the situation in South Sudan with our special envoy out in the region relentlessly meeting with both parties and with the countries in the region to bring the two leaders to the negotiating table and encourage them and urge them to do the right thing by their people. So it’s still a work in progress. In the meantime, the people of Africa continue to suffer. As you’re well aware, another Ebola case was found in Liberia this week. Are you concerned that Ebola is coming back, or has the tide turned against the disease? I do think the tide has turned against the disease. But these – this new case in Liberia is just a warning to us that the job is not done, that we have to continue to remain vigilant, and to continue to message and communicate with populations about doing the right thing when they find that their relatives or neighbors are ill. And our hope is that this battle will eventually end for the moment, but again, we will continue to remain engaged with the governments in the regions and their communities to ensure that Ebola does not take hold again in the way that we were dealing with it last summer. The numbers are down again, but the fight is not over, and there’s still a great deal of work that needs to be done. In particular, we have to help these governments build their health infrastructure so that they have the resilience when there’s this kind of event, this kind of crisis, that they can respond in a way that does not cause their health infrastructure to totally collapse, as we saw happen in West Africa. So, thank you. The military has a lot of skin in the game in Liberia for the Ebola response as well. Do you have anything you’d like to add on that No, just as the assistant secretary said, there’s still work to be done. There has been some capacity-building efforts already. And I think that just with the initial reports coming out of this individual who got sick, that the things that they had learned in the past that were successful between the isolation and the chain contact, as well as the burial standards that the USAID has helped them build, that they will be able to better handle the situation now so that it doesn’t get out of hand as it had been before. You mentioned AGOA, which is a very important piece of legislation for trade in Africa. Can you comment on what that legislation would mean? What that legislation means is that – first, it shows our confidence in Africa and in our trade relationship with Africa. But secondly, what it means to Africa is better business opportunities. It means more jobs. It means jobs on the continent of Africa. And it also means jobs in the U.S. And the companies that are benefiting from AGOA really welcomed the signing of this legislation. It gave them the confidence to move forward, to sign deals on delivery of goods and services that will take place over the next few years. We will be hosting the AGOA Forum in Gabon in August, and we are delighted that this legislation has been signed and will be, again, a signal of the U.S. commitment and confidence in Africa’s future.

Man disappears over wife’s third set of
twins  July 3, 2015
 Written by Miriam Ekene-Okoro, Staff
Reporter Where is Citizen Emeka Benjamin Uche, a Lagos factory worker? That was the big question yesterday as his wife, Ruth, 34, from Abia State broke the news of his disappearance since February. Uche, 39, fled home when he learnt that his expectant wife was carrying a set of twins – the family’s third. Mrs Uche was at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa yesterday with her six children, pleading for help. Not many knew what she wanted as she stood under a tree, close to the Press Centre, carrying the babies. Her first two sets of twins, much older, stood close to their mother, and did not in any way seem intimidated by the sea of cameras and faces focusing on them. Mrs. Uche was receptive when our reporter approached her to narrate her ordeal. In 2009 when she first conceived, she was delivered of two girls – Goodness and Godnews. The second conception, two years later, produced another two – a boy and a girl, named John and Joyce. But when her husband, Emeka, learnt that the third pregnancy was another set of two he fled their number 32, Awori Street, Agege home on the outskirt of Lagos to an undisclosed location in Ikorodu, Lagos. The third set of twins arrived last month. They were named Daniel and Daniella. Mrs. Uche said she could no longer cope with widening needs for food, clothes, drugs and school fees. Her meagre earnings as a teacher in a private school in Lagos can no longer meet their needs. Her story: “I met my husband in 2002 but we got married in 2008. We met in the village at Umuahia. I don’t want to leave the children and run away. This is why I want government to help us,” she said. She recalled that she never wanted the third pregnancy, but her use of traditional means of family planning (counting fertile and infertile days) failed her. “I was using traditional way of family planning where I calculate some days before having intercourse. It was working for me. You can see my first set of twins is four years old. “You know as women, we cannot deny our husband that thing whenever they request for it. Whenever I mistakenly take in, he would say that I was pretending. Sometimes, I would go through long process to abort the pregnancy. After that, another one would happen. I would still have to go through the process again to abort it. When this one happened he still insisted that I was pretending until the pregnancy became obvious.” “My Church was responsible for the payment of the first delivery. The church paid N120, 000 for the delivery of the first set of twins. The two deliveries of the twins have been through Caesarean Section for which we paid N120, 000 each. The last twins are through normal delivery”. Mrs. Uche explained that her husband, a factory worker in Iju Road, Agege, has since refused to pick her calls. She learnt that he stays in Ikorodu. “Since I gave birth to the children, I have tried calling my husband but he would not pick once he knows that it is me. I contacted his mother and other relatives to tell them that he has run away. They promised that they will call back. Since then, none of them has called me. It is not
easy for me at all. “I know only two of his relations. One of them lives in Ikorodu; the other one lives at Ajegunle. My elder brother, who could have also helped, is very angry with me for giving birth to another set of twins. He
warned me before not to have any other child after the two sets of twins, especially with the kind of husband I have. “I cannot put my hands in blood shedding by committing abortion. I want Nigerians to help me because there is nobody to pay their school fees. “I went for immunisation some days ago and I told them my condition and why they have not been seeing me. It was there that they advised that I should come to government. Government should please help my children; no one to help me with house rent, electricity bill, school fees, food and so on,” Mrs. Uche said.

Two sources close to President Muhammadu Buhari have told
SaharaReporters that there was growing
concern over the apparent determination
of the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, to
transform herself into a politically
powerful spouse, in defiance of her husband’s wishes. The sources remarked that President
Buhari had ordered that his wife not be
officially addressed as “First Lady,”
adding, however, that Mrs. Buhari has
been operating as one. Since Nigeria’s return to democratic
governance in 1999, the wives of
successive Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo,
Umaru Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan
had operated in a politically controversial
and high profile manner. Stella Obasanjo, the wife of Mr. Obasanjo, was known as a
quiet power broker who reportedly
demanded loyalty to herself from those
who worked closely with her husband.
She died on October 23, 2005 in Spain
during a secretive trip to perform cosmetic surgery to enhance her
physique. Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua emerged as a
brooding operator who became the
power behind the throne of her husband’s
Presidency. When Mr. Yar’Adua took
gravely ill and was hospitalized for long
periods in a Saudi hospital, his wife, Turai, oversaw an ambitious scam to
hoodwink Nigerians into believing that
her comatose husband was still ably
running Nigeria. Immediate past First Lady Patience
Jonathan exhibited some of the worst
attributes of recent presidential spouses.
A loquacious figure, she often inserted
herself in state affairs, openly feuded
with political figures, and was given to an ostentatious lifestyle. Her critics said she
often courted or demanded huge cash
gifts as well as land and cars from
political officials, including governors and
ministers. During his campaign for the Presidency,
Mr. Buhari had indicated that he would
ensure that his wife did not assume a
formal public and visible role as First
Lady. However, our two sources alleged that the
incumbent president’s wife seemed
determined to build herself into a First
Lady in the mold of her three past
predecessors. She was reportedly in a haste to move
into Aso Rock Villa, and ended up
relocating to the President’s official
residence three days before her husband
moved in. One source said she brought
along to Aso Rock three powerful friends who have been running her office as
though she has an official title. The three
The three
women are former Senator Pauline Tallen
from Plateau State, Fatimat Abubakar, a
wife of former Vice President Abubakar
Atiku, and a former Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Hajo Sani. Our other source disclosed that the
activities of his wife’s three friends had
become a cause for concern for President
Buhari. “Mr. President [Buhari] is a simple
man by nature. He still doesn’t want his
wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, to begin to play the kind of role that First Lady Mrs.
Patience Jonathan played,” he said. Last week, President Buhari reportedly
ordered agents of the State Security
Services (SSS) to arrest his wife’s brother,
Musa Yola, for allegedly defrauding a
businessman of N300 million in exchange
for securecuring an oil bloc for his dupe. Source; saharareporters.com